India is providing support to Srilanka in setting of a solar power plant. Sri Lanka will soon start the process of setting up a solar power plant in eastern port town Trincomalee.
In April 2017, India and Srilanka signed a MOU for cooperation in a host of development projects including the setting up of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in suburban Colombo and a solar power plant in Sampur, Trincomalee.
Sampur, where the solar plant is set to come up, is located in the strategically important port town of Trincomalee, on the north-eastern coast of the island.
India and Sri Lanka have agreed to jointly operate a world war-era oil storage facility in the town, with the aim of developing it into a regional petroleum hub.
The proposed solar power plant is in line with Soorya Bala Sangramaya (Battle for Solar Energy), an initiative that President Sirisena launched last year to add 220 MW of solar power to Sri Lanka’s energy grid by 2020.